Tiankeng: an ideal place for climate warming research on forest ecosystems

Abstract

In order to better understand the response of terrestrial ecosystems’ structure and function to climate warming, various field methods need to be explored. Among a series of existing methods, the active open top chamber (OTC) was the only method that has been used in the entire forest ecosystem. However, this method needs rethinking because its high cost and long buffer time during experimental implementation limit its use. A tiankeng, a large steep-walled sinkhole, which has evolved by roof collapse over a large cave chamber, is a natural OTC surrounded by rocks. Tiankengs are uniquely distributed in fragile ecosystems of karst regions, and are ideal study sites for climate warming research on forest ecosystems. Although their inaccessibility and monitoring difficulties are the main drawbacks, unmanned aerial vehicles containing micro robots could help and carry out relevant research tasks in the future.